Damo's Excel

[Damo]

'Showcase' is hardly the word when your talking an Excel...but here are a few shots of my thing (copied from www.excelrally.com.au , so some of the comments may not make too much sense!).

I was originally going to rebuild a crashed 96 shell that we used to repair my wives car with, but it turned that was going to cost more than just buying a complete running car, so I went that way and bought a neat 96 SOHC one-owner thingy.





The interior has now been stripped, and after doing it on a few cars in the last 12 months I hope I never have to chip back the interior insulation stuff ever again! I managed to hock off the seats, CD player, carpet etc on Ebay for a few bucks which has helped too.

Got the car back from having the cage installed by Rod Kilby here on Canberra last week, and I'm very happy!

I had previously had quite a few discussions with Skypilot about attempting to do the cage myself after seeing his thread, and was quite keen for a while, but in the end sooked out and decided to farm it out to someone who does it for a living (I had visions of a being speared with a broken bit of cage in a big off...).

I'm very happy that I went that way in the end, the close fit & finish that Rod was able to get is fantastic.





I've seam welded just about every interior seam I could find, and have tonight finshed the underbody seamwelding. Just a bit more welding & painting to do in the engine bay and I can start putting it back together....and start saving for some decent suspension.

I'll try to post more as I progress.
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Front end stuff finished (no laughing at the cr@p welding!) -

Plated strut tops



Seam welded strut towers and inner chassis plate


Outer chassis plate



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Engine bay & interior painted.
I'm really regretting painiting the interior white - looks good now, but I reckon it wont take long to start scuffing and looking really crap....oh well.





Its all starting to go back together now, which is really exciting.
The only issue is getting the tools off my 4-year old!

[Damo]

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Getting closer





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Finally a few more updated photos. She's all ready for her maiden voyage at the LCCC khana tomorrow (if it ever stops raining).

Just need to save for some suspension, sumpgaurd, lights, some wheels....it never ends!

[Matt Dyne]

Looks great Damo...shame I wasn't around for the khana!!

Blue Range looks pretty promising I would have thought?

M

[Damo]

Originally Posted by Matt Dyne

Looks great Damo...shame I wasn't around for the khana!!

Blue Range looks pretty promising I would have thought?

M

Yep, thats the plan Matt - If I can get a sumpgaurd & some rally tyres on it before Feb, we'll see how long My Hyundai's factory suspension lasts on the dirt! (I'm voting < 3km....).

[Ben Wilson]

Originally Posted by Damo

Yep, thats the plan Matt - If I can get a sumpgaurd & some rally tyres on it before Feb, we'll see how long My Hyundai's factory suspension lasts on the dirt! (I'm voting < 3km....).

Talk to Richard about the factory Focus suspension he was using at ROC. It lasts, it's just not pretty....

[Swill]

Good work Damo. But whats with the Blue wing?

[Ben Wilson]

Originally Posted by YRALLY

Good work Damo. But whats with the Blue wing?

It makes it easier to find in the supermarket carpark...

[Damo]

Originally Posted by YRALLY

Good work Damo. But whats with the Blue wing?

Errr.....it looks faster with a wing........dosent it?

[TKM]

Would look faster with a fully sik WRX bonnet scoop and one of those pinapple can rear mufflers

[Rallydat]

Damo, As I'm to lazy to read the Excel Regs at the moment, is all that welding/strengthening allowed in the One make series cars?

[Shabby]

Yes

[Damo]

Yep - the regs are essentially PRC for body & suspension, and restricted engine, gearbox and brakes (with some exceptions).

[James]

Damo come and see Pete and myself at Capital steering and suspension in fyshwick,

p.s it wont be the 1st exel series car we've set up

[Damo]

Thought i'd better update this and throw up a final 'finished' picture of the car, before its first proper rally at ROC in March.

Although not alot has changed externally, it now has a twincam engine to replace the original single, some DMS suspension, sumpgaurd, lightbar, some underbody protection, a heaterectomy etc (and most importantly, stickers!).

Hopefully this does not turn into 'before' and 'after' shots, with the next one of it in the back of a box trailer following ROC....

[Damo]

Thread from the dead.

After realising that "bigger and better" is not always better, I have another white Excel rallycar back in the shed....almost 18 months after the first one was built. Groundhog day anyone?

Just a few little things like the front mudflaps and sumpgaurd etc to sort out, and then I'll be off to try and get it through rego. Cant wait for that!